Clutch



J. WALKER.

CLUTCH (No Model.)

Pate fited May-2, 1893.

INVENTOR. /MM/ Wm v- WITNESSES.

ATENT Grmc.

JOHN W'ALKER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CLUTCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 496,460, dated May 2, 1893.

Application filed November 12, 1892. Serial No. 451,733. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN WALKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clutches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,- clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to theclass of clutch mechanisms in which a movable clutch member is caused to slide longitudinally with respect to the shaft on which it is mounted toward a stationary member for the purpose of producing an operative engagement of the two members or of causing to be grasped between them an interposed flange or disk or series of disks. Examples of clutches of this kind may be seen in numerous prior patents, and especially in two patents granted to me, viz,-No. 424,631, dated April 1, 1890, and No. 474,429, dated May 10, 1892. In both the patents named, as in the present case, the clutches shown are of the type generally known as Weston disk clutches, but the invention hereinafter described is in no wise dependent upon the character of the clutching surfaces. With the operating mechanism shown and described in those patents, a very considerable movement of the sliding sleeve is necessary to produce such an amount of movement in the movable clutch member as is required for its successful operation. My object is to providea construction and combination of parts with which a given movement of the sliding sleeve will produce a greater movement of the movable clutch member than it does in the mechanism shown and described in my prior patents, and a greater movement of such member than is produced by any mechanism heretofore used for such a purpose.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of parts shown in the drawings and hereinafter described, as definitely pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view partly in section of a clutch containing and embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a detail of the novel operating mechanism.

Referring to the parts by letter, A represents a shaft; and B the stationary clutch member having a sleeve 1) which is keyed to the shaft.

0 represents the movable clutch member or pressure collar which is adapted to slide on said sleeve.

D represents a collar which is'mounted on the sleeve 1) and during the operation of the parts which produce the engagement and disengagement 4 of the clutching surfaces this collar is rigid with the hub. The parts of the proximate faces of the collar D and movable member 0 are oppositely inclined, and the operating wedges are moved inward between the collar D and movable member 0 with which the operating wedges engage, and

in engagement with the inclined surfaces thereon.

G represents the sliding sleeve which is mounted on the collar D in the usual manner.

So much of the mechanism as is above explained is substantially like the similar mechanism shown and described in the prior patents named.

H represents a link which is pivoted to cars g on the sliding sleeve and extends therefrom inward toward the shaft. Two blocks E E are pivoted to the inner end of the link on opposite sides thereof, at such points that a line connecting the pivots will be substantially at right angles to a line extending lengthwise centrally of the link from its pivot in the ears'g. A portion of these blocks lies at all times between the collar D and mov able member 0 and in engagement with the inclined surfaces thereon; when in such engagement the outer faces of the blocks are oppositely inclined and form a wedge which when forced toward the axis of the shaft cause the movement of the movable memberO from the collar. D.

The action of the device is clear'from the drawings and foregoing description. The more closely the link H approaches a p0sition perpendicular to the aXis of the shaft, the farther the wedge is moved inward toward the said axis. Thereis consequentlya movement of the movable clutch member due to this movement of" the wedge. This is the mode of operation of the mechanism shown and described in my prior patent above referred to. But in the present case, there is ICC an additional movement of the movable member due to the expansion of the wedge or its increase in effective width measured in a line parallel to the axis of the shaft. For as the link assumes the perpendicular position the pivots by means of which the blocks E E are secured to the link, are moved toward a plane parallel to the axis of the shaft, and consequently the horizontal distance between the pivots of said block grows greater and the wedge is increased in effective width. There is therefore an additional movement of the movable member due and equal to the increase in the width of the wedge. \Vhen the sleeve is moved backward the wedge is withdrawn and decreased in effective width at the same time. hen, in moving the sleeve forward, the outer pivot of the link is moved past the point at which the link is perpendicular to the axis of the shaft, the clutch is locked; and the clutch is also looked when the link is so moved that the line passing through the pivot of the two blocks E E passes the position in which it is parallel to the said axis.

I have described only one system of operating mechanism although two or four or more of such systems are generally employed for the purpose of gaining power and in order that the power may be so applied as to move the clutch member evenly along the shaft.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In a clutch, the combination of a longi tudinally movable clutch member, a fixed collar, and a sliding sleeve, with a simultaneously expansible and inwardly movable wedge which lies between the fixed collar and movable member, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a clutch, the combination of a longitudinally movable clutch member and a fixed collar both of which have oppositely inclined surfaces on their proximate faces, with a sliding sleeve, a link pivoted thereto, and two blocks pivoted to the inner ends of said link,

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOIIN WALKER.

\Vitnesses:

SAMUEL GROVES, E. L. THURS'ION. 

